readers of #Cymraeg #Welsh and of writers from #Cymru #Wales Our #noAI #coedennadolig of ( #bilingual) #poetry anthologies/collections from sian northey @nessowen.bsky.social & @hazardpressuk.bsky.social
#nadoligllawen
last UK post 2nd 16thDec 1st 19thDec arachnepress.com/Poetry-c1217...

This is part of 1 of 3 poems of mine included in the new edition of Mugwort Mag, edited by Kate Garrett.

It's called Pooka. The other two are called Seer, & Cat as Psychopomp.

You can read them & the works of other strange & spectral writers here:

Ta x

mugwortmag.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/s...?

Since the spooky & uncanny remain with us beyond October's tides, Mugwort Magazine celebrates with a hint of the spectral & strange.

You'll find the misty presence of a bunch of writers, inc. the soft brush of my own passing by...

#PoetrySky #FolkloreSky

mugwortmag.wordpress.com/2025/12/06/s...

This one was the last.
But before it went,
It turned. Looked at me.

It had all the meaning I'd wanted.
It contained me, like a dream.
It checked, & when I said, Yes,

It kissed me.
All the other I was.
Living as a written thing.

Math Jones 2025

#PoetCombo #ThisPoem

Sometimes, with the sense that there's someone there unseen, just behind, & to one side, I'll reach out my hand & squeeze the air, to acknowledge them.

#HeathenSky

Aurgelmir is another name for Ymir, the giant from whom Midgard was made.

It means 'Sand-yeller', or 'Bellowing Sands'; the foundation of all, named for the smallest granular...

I've a poem here, named Aurgelmir, hosted by 'Forgotten Ground Regained'

alliteration.net/poetry/aurge...

Runes on bits of clay, or etched on lozenges of wood, and often running with the grain...

...I regret it, since they're ubiquitous, but I feel such disconnection from them.

Or rather, I see the connection to some marketing department in the 70s or 80s, just taken up unthinkingly.

Sorry. #RunicSky

#HeathenSky

A curious project, perhaps.

To turn Snorri's Prose Edda, written to save the poetics of Medieval Iceland, into traditional alliterative verse; continuing his project maybe?

Part one of Gylfaginning in Verse is here, free to stream, for now.

mathjones.bandcamp.com/album/gylfag...

From a recent scratch at the Courtyard, Hereford.

Bit of a culture clash - #poetry & #theatre. One relies on words; the other, the visuals, & the immediacy.

The 'poetry show' is being seen more often. That's probably where this fits best, if I can find the opportunities.

Photo: Jack Hayes

There is a whole body of wisdom within these flowing waters.
So much has flown away already; so much more to come.

But the river runs clean and clear regardless.
And this small cup of it, is what you need right now.

Not brand new, but I hope acceptable still...

#LockedDoors, a #PoemsAbout prompt from @thebrokenspine.co.uk

"Folkism: What Is It and How Do We Avoid It?"
Recommendable blog by ThatHelpolwitch:

#folkism #fascism #heathenry #pagan #paganism
#democracyhashtag/democracy" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#democracy #usaref="/hashtag/usa" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#usa #gopref="/hashtag/gop" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#gop #fascists/hashtag/fascists" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#fascists

👉 Vote 'em Out!

Back in the 80s and 90s, in the UK, Old Norse & Old English Polytheism was often known as 'The Northern Tradition'.

I don't know if that was the case outside the UK.

Anyway, we asked & campaigned to replace that term with 'Heathen', 'Heathenry', Heathenism'.

And it worked.

#HeathenSky

& suddenly, with a shift in the eyes, it's clear that the greenery across the way has a face, is the head of an immensity, & they're staring in through my window, not unkindly- in acknowledgment of kindness- & then, without leaving, they remove to some other part; the foliage there as after-shadow.

Must remember this..

#PoetrySky #HeathenSky

Forgotten Ground Regained is the go-to Web space for all forms of alliterative verse.

The newest issue is just released, here. I've a couple of pieces there myself, & I'll share specific links later.

But in the meantime, do have a browse

alliteration.net/current-issue/

The beguiling of Gylfi... is Snorri's prose rendition of Norse Myth, written to explain to Christian Icelanders what their poetics meant.

I thought it'd be fun to render it into verse. The first part's here...

#HeathenSky

#HeathenSky 1/3

hægl byth hwitust corna, hwyrft hit on heofones lyft
wealcað hit windes scura, weorðeð hit to wætera syþþan

[this from memory, may contain errors]

It's the verse in the Old English Rune Poem, for hægl / hail (pronounce that g as a y, & they sound practically the same).

more

Thank you, @rhunedhel.bsky.social

As it goes, this was my very first #alliterative poem, & it followed a year of not writing at all, as I disengaged the clutch & changed gear from end-rhyme to head-rhyme.

Then, as is said, 'word followed word'

#PoetrySky #HeathenSky

A lot of alliterative verse in here, an array of articles, & not one but two settings out of the skaldic Drottkvæt form

#PoetrySky #AlliterativeVerse

#PaganSky

'Math' is the name of a Welsh king, a wizard-prince of Gwynedd; Math ap Mathonwy, brother of the goddess, Don.

It is said to be a word for 'bear', which is apt for my size & shape.

I chose it as a Pagan name to honour that part of my heritage that is Welsh, British, Celtic.

more...

#PaganSky #HeathenSky

How do you write a goddess or god? In poetry or prose, how do you do it? So that they retain the intimacy of blood in your veins. So they go between like air into breath into air. So you see them there as tall as the sky, and you are too.

more...

It feels a kind of projection, the talking to goddesses, gods, ghosts & others; a kind of talking 'as if' they will hear you. A sending out of self, to be met, somewhere, somehow, somewho. 'Cause at times you feel them answer back.

1/4 #PaganSky #HeathenSky

To say a goddess or god 'was' always jars with me.

Sure, she 'was' believed to be such & such. He 'was' worshipped by so & so.

But, for me now, a goddess, a god, always 'is'.

#PaganSky #HeathenSky

My poem, 'Listen, he whispers' has been put forward by a friend towards the best of the net awards. Which I'm thrilled about.

It's deeply embedded in Norse myth & relates to existential moments we may all be subject to. Would love your thoughts.

#HeathenSky

alliteration.net/poetry/liste...